Weekend Blitz

The “SPG Hot Escapes” list is out for the week of July 25, 2014. They offer discounts of 20-50% off of typical rates for a few hundred select properties worldwide. The flash sale lasts for about 3 days and allows you to book the properties for the next 6 weeks:

The Deal

SPG Hot Escapes for the week of July 25, 2014 allow you to book selected Starwood properties for 20-50% off. Some of the highlights include:

Sub-$100 U.S. Properties:

Worldwide deals:

How to Get It

Don’t forget:

A few months ago I wrote about the advantages of getting a credit card or debit card with EMV or “Smart Chip” technology (Great Travel Tool: Get a Credit Card with a Chip). Check out the post for more info on why you need one for traveling. I also included a brief list of U.S. banks and financial institutions that have recently started offering this new technology but now have a more comprehensive list. Check out the list, there’s a good chance that a card that you already have is now offering a chip and all you have to do is call up and ask for one.

Chip-and-PIN

A true Chip-and-PIN card offers the ultimate in security (including in [...]

We made a very last minute, overnight trip to Philadelphia a few weeks ago and needed a place to stay. We were looking for a place in the heart of the city (within walking distance to everything) and decided on Le Méridien Philadelphia.

BOOKING

I made a booking the day before check-in after planning our last minute trip to Philadelphia. When I looked on Monday, literally every hotel in the city was sold out. Nothing at Starwood, Hyatt or Marriott. Worried that our only option was going to be the airport hotels, I kept checking back a few times a day. By Tuesday, some availability opened up at a Hyatt property and I jumped on it using 12,000 Hyatt GP points. [...]

Although we haven’t covered it much in the past, Starwood Hotels & Resorts releases a list of flash deals every Wednesday, called “SPG Hot Escapes.” They offer discounts of 20-50% off of typical rates for a few hundred select properties worldwide. The flash sale lasts for about 3 days and allows you to book the properties for the next 6 weeks:

The Deal

SPG Hot Escapes for the week of June 18, 2014 allow you to book selected Starwood properties for 20-50% off. Some of the highlights include:

U.S. Only, lots of New York properties for ~$150/night:

Worldwide, great deals in Thailand (thanks to the military coup): [...]

The American Express Platinum card is one of the best cards out there. While it carriers a very hefty annual fee ($450) for both the Personal and Business versions, it has some of the best benefits and travel-related services that are very value-add. Here’s a quick list of what the $450 a year will get you:

After exploring Paris in the snow, and getting all engaged up, it was time to bid adieu to Paris and hop our short commuter flight from Paris-CDG to Italy’s famed town of Florence-FLR (but be careful, I’ve heard at least half the flights actually land in Firenze, not Florence…yikes!).

After having a bit of bad weather, all of the public transit and flights were finally back up and running smoothly. We took the RER from the city out to Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport. Somewhat annoyingly, they don’t announce the gate or terminal you’ll be leaving from until just a few hours before departure, so we ended up having to wait for a bit in the [...]

As I wrote about back in April (Deal Blitz: Starwood “Hear the Music” 2014 Promo – $50 Ticketmaster Cash for Every 2 Nights), Starwood was running a promo that gave you a $50 Ticketmaster e-voucher for every 2 paid nights at a Starwood property between between April 3 and May 31, 2014. The only catch was that you had to make the bookings using a SPG mobile app.

This was a pretty phenomenal promotion because it was based on paid nights, not paid stays during a 2-month period. Anyway, I’m happy to report that the promotion ended just about a week ago and the e-certificates have started to email!

While I’m glad I got at least 4 of [...]

As I wrote about here (How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios), US Airways officially joined the Oneworld Alliance about a month ago. Joining the ranks of American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, LAN etc…, US Airways is now eligible for bookings with Avios. This opens up lots of opportunities for maximizing short, non-stop flights out of US Airways’ hub cities: Charlotte-CLT, Philadelphia-PHL, Phoenix-PHX and Washington-Reagan-DCA.

First in this series was Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, and now we have flights out of Philadelphia-PHL. There are easily 60+ million people that can reach Philadelphia International Airport in less [...]

Note: These are bookable now.. Don’t miss out on Flying Blue’s summer promo which allows you to book Air France/KLM awards for 25-50% less that normal in July & August 2014:

Award bookings on Air France/KLM routes have been reduced by 25-50% for travel between August 1 – September 30, 2014.

For those of us sitting in ‘Merica, we’ll be most interested in: